Demand has outstripped supply of rental properties (Picture: Getty Images)

According to property website Rightmove, rents across the UK have reached record highs, as the lack of rental properties continues.

New data reveals that the average asking rents outside London have reached £1,190 per month, a figure that’s been on the up for the last 13 financial quarters.

Alongside that, average monthly asking rents in London have crossed £2,500 for the first time, with a record-breaking figure of £2,501 per month for tenants in the capital.

The place with the steepest hikes is High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, which had the highest annual change of a 22.4% increase.

You’d be expected to pay £1,311 on average for a property here, compared to £1,071 last year.

Farnham in Surrey follows this, seeing a rise of 21.9%, and Edinburgh isn’t far behind, as landlords charged 20% more in the first part of 2023.

This map shows where rents are going up most across the UK (Picture: Metro.co.uk)

In Scotland, rents sat at over £950 per month between January and March, while figures in the North East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber reported averages of £803, £1,025 and £940 per month respectively

Wales saw a larger annual increase of 11.9%, with rents reaching £987 per month, while the West Midlands saw a 9.2% increase at £1052.

Despite this, the pace of asking rent growth has slowed nationally, with signs of ease seen three quarters in a row.

In London, indications show that the speed of rent increases is slowing down as this quarter’s rise marks the smallest in two years – at 0.9%.

‘We have seen some early signs of improvement on squeezed supply levels this year, though with no significant influx of new properties becoming available to rent currently on the horizon, the mismatch is set to continue for some time,’ said Rightmove’s Director of Property Science Tim Bannister.

‘Many agents are having to manage a very high volume of tenant enquiries for every property that they let in the current market.

‘Properties in popular areas within an affordable asking rent range of that local area are likely to be snapped up almost immediately, and on average homes are finding a tenant much more quickly than this time in 2019.

‘Although there are some early signs that the gap between supply and demand is starting to narrow a little, it will still feel very competitive for tenants trying to secure a home.’

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Tenants have seen hikes of up to 22.4% during the first months of 2023.